THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



and it is nothing nearly so social as other Finches, usually 

 roaming in pairs. The broods keep company for some 

 time with their parents, however, and early in spring, 

 about the mating period, an assembly may occasionally 

 be met with. The flight of the Bullfinch is rather slow 

 and deliberate, and follows a dipping direction, the 

 white rump of the bird enabling the eye readily to 

 follow its course. It is a somewhat shy and secretive 

 species at all times, and is fond of hiding in the cover, 

 where a transient glimpse or the characteristic piping 

 call-note of dyu-dyu are all that betray its whereabouts. 

 Sometimes in spring its actions may be more readily 

 observed as it moves about the fruit-trees eating the buds. 

 It feeds chiefly on seeds, buds, and berries of various 

 kinds, and in summer on insects and larvae, upon which its 

 young are reared. The low, twittering song of the male is 

 heard most frequently in the laying season, which is in 

 April to June, or even later. The nest, often made in a 

 fir or other evergreen in a shrubbery, or in a dense hedge- 

 row or thicket, is largely composed outside of slender 

 twigs, which support the cup, made of roots and hair, 

 with an occasional feather or tuft of wool. The four or five 

 (or even six) eggs are bluish green, spotted with purplish 

 brown and grey, and sometimes sparingly streaked with 

 darker brown. Two broods are reared in the season. 



The adult male Bullfinch has the head, tail, and wings 

 glossy black, a spot of dull red on the innermost secondary, 

 and spots of grey on the wing-coverts ; the back is clear 

 bluish grey, the rump white ; the chin is black, the re- 

 mainder of the under parts brick-red, save the under tail- 

 coverts and ventral region, which are white. Bill black ; 

 tarsi and toes dark blackish brown ; irides brown. Length 

 6 inches. The female resembles the male in the general 

 colour pattern of her plumage, but the red and grey parts 

 are brown, palest on the abdomen. The nestling also 

 resembles the female, but has no black on the head. 

 182 



